The Decision
by ViciousHerring
Summary: Life is full of decisions, so I imagined the moment that the Captain of a clan of space pirates made a life-changing choice. I do not own any Ravagers or Marvel characters. Introducing a smattering of original characters for story purposes. Rated T for coarse language and suggestive themes. Critique is always welcome. Followed immediately by Burning a Garden.
1. Chapter 1

The Ravager Faction leader barges through the old-fashioned, swinging doors of the block-style building, his dark red eyes scan across the cozily appointed foyer and land on the sharp-featured woman behind the tall reception desk.

"Captain Udonta!" the woman smiles happily as the Centaurian strides toward her. "S-so pleased you've made it…"

"Alrigh' boys, bring 'em in," he calls to his men who linger in the doorway. They whoop and holler and heft a number of large crates into the middle of the room. "Miss Pris, lovely ta see you ag'in. Delivery," the Captain waves to the containers, "as agreed."

"Mhmhmhmm," the receptionist hums seductively and grabs Yondu's shirtfront, dragging the pirate Captain to the counter. She leans forward and presses her lips to his. "Madam will be right out," Miss Pris murmurs, she leans in again, but is startled by a small sneeze that sounds like it came from Udonta's coat pocket.

Miss Pris gives the Ravager Captain a confused look and carefully lifts open the lapel of Yondu's duster as she leans even farther over the counter, nearly resting her forehead against the Centaurian's nose. The brothel receptionist finds two, big, blue, humanoid eyes staring fearfully up at her from under Yondu's arm. Pris smiles and winks at the child when she sees its skinny fingers tighten around the Captain's beltloop.

"Oooh, Captain… It's s-so cute," Miss Pris coos, "What is it?"

Yondu chuckles, whores always have a soft spot for children. "He's a Terran," he replies quietly, "You watch 'im fo' me, whilst I attend to yor Madam?"

"Aw, it's a boy? Of cours-se I'll watch him."

The Ravager looks down at the boy clinging to his hip. "You hear that?" Yondu asks and the kid nods, "Good."

A door whooshes open at the back of the room and Yondu's attention turns right to it.

"There she is!" he exclaims, stepping away from the counter, "Tha mos' beautiful lady in the quadrant!"

Miss Pris snakes her long, iridescent arm over the counter and around the Terran child's shoulder, she gives him a meaningful look and holds him close to the desk. The boy stares at her for a moment before turning his attention to the foyer full of raucous pirates.

"Let the Madam through, boys," the Captain hollers, "She ain' here fo' you!"

"Yondu! These are perfect! Jus-st what the Madam ordered!" Madam Sol'ya, proprietress of the Serpent's Garden, happily proclaims, "Our arrangement is-s concluded, let's-s get back to business as usual!"

The rose-skinned Madam undulates enticingly, and she grows taller and taller. The child gasps with wonder; where the beautiful Sol'ya's hips should part into legs, they continue, instead, in the body of a great serpent.

"Oh, my Darling's-s," the naga-like woman calls out, and the Ravagers cheer, "We have guests!"

Doors all around the foyer and second-floor landing open, and scores of "ladies" of all sorts of races pour into the room to the cheers and whistles of the gathered pirates. Yondu sweeps the delicately-scaled Madam into his arms and heads for a particular door next to the reception desk.

"Treat 'em right, boys!" Udonta yells to his men and disappears through the particular door with the Madam.

Chaos ensues as the Ravagers hoot and holler and climb over one another to get to their favorite prostitute. The boy tries to become a part of the desk, and unthinkingly wraps his small hands around Miss Pris' fingers as they rest on his shoulder. The commotion gradually settles as pirates and whores disappear together, 'til only he and the alien receptionist are left.

Miss Pris leans over her counter again and gives the child's shoulder a gentle shake. "S-so, cutie, do you have a name?"

"Peter Quill," he replies quietly.

"Peter… Well, you're s-safe now. It'll be hours-s before we'll s-see anyone again."

Quill sags with relief.


	2. Chapter 2

It's been some time…

-"Yondu, was-s that a child I s-saw?" "Hunh, might'a been. What's it ta you?" "Oh-ho-ho, nothing… Daddy!" "That is so inappropriate. Say it ag'in."

-"Your poetry is beautiful, Half-nut. You should share it with the others." "Mmm, maybe, I don't think they'd understand…"

-"Hah! You always give me tha best shave." "Better than Pris?" "Nope."

-"Oo, you big, scary pirate!" "Hahahaha! I am!"

… and other than the occasional muffled noise, the brothel has been quiet. Peter's already wandered around the entire foyer and has sat or stood upon every piece of furniture in the room. He's especially nervous and bored right now since the Captain made him leave his Walkman on the ship. Which was fine when the gruff, blue man told him it wasn't safe to carry, but the fear, and the grief, and the loneliness are creeping up on him again and he desperately wishes he had his music.

Quill flops onto the overstuffed couch and covers his face with his arm. He sniffs and wrinkles his nose, he smells something sour and greasy. It's horrible. It's him. Peter sits up with a frown and tentatively takes another whiff of himself. Ugh.

The Terran child hops off the sofa and anxiously approaches the reception desk.

"U-um, Miss Pris?" he says, and fidgets when she looks down at him with yellow, snake-like eyes. "Can I take a bath?"

The brothel receptionist smiles, "S-sure cutie. I think we can manage that. Follow me."

A segment of the tall desk collapses on itself and folds into the wall and Miss Pris steps from behind it. "Steps" is not the right word, neither is "strides," for she doesn't have legs either. Pris is a snake-woman like the Madam, but her scaly skin is a creamy, pale yellow and has a sparkling iridescence that glitters in ever-changing rainbows as she sways.

"Wooow," the boy breathes, utterly mesmerized by the colors dancing along Pris' serpentine body. "You're so pretty…"

The receptionist looks over her shoulder and smiles, she reaches back for Peter's hand.


	3. Chapter 3

"How's-s the temperature?" Miss Pris asks as she turns a knob on the tiled wall, "Not too hot?"

"No, it's good," the boy replies as he splashes in the tub. "Why is the water white? And it smells like Play-Doh."

The snake-woman laughs, she loves the questions that children ask. "I don't know what Plato is-s, but this-s bath is over a mineral s-spring. That s-smell is clay, s-so don't drink it."

Peter makes a face, "Eew, I'm not gonna drink clay-water. That's gross."

"Good," Pris chuckles, she pulls open a cabinet and peers through an assortment of pretty bottles and jars, "Do you like bubbles-s, Peter?"

"Um, my grandpa told me bubbles were fer little kids," Quill kicks his feet in the milky water, "but I still like 'em."

"Then you'll like these," the brothel receptionist says, she opens a bottle and takes a sniff, "And let me tell you, they're not jus-st for little kids-s. I mean, did you know…!" Pris looks slyly sideways at the Terran, "Hmm. No, I probably s-shouldn't tell you that, I think it's-s a s-secret…"

"I can keep a secret. Honest."

"Well," she says as she glides to the side of the tub and leans close to the boy in a conspiratorial fashion, "your Captain Udonta…"

"No way!" Peter flinches as Pris pours something cold and syrup-like over his head, "Cap'n Yondu likes bubble baths!?"

"He loves-s them!" Pris whispers excitedly.

The chilly syrup fizzes like cola on top of Peter's head and quickly spreads, expanding to cover the Terran completely in soft, gray foam. The boy can't help but giggle at the tickling, bubbly sensation, not to mention the news that that occasionally terrifying pirate Captain likes bubble baths. Maybe this new life won't be so bad.

"All bubbly now… S-so, how did you end up with the Ravagers-s, Peter?"

"U-um," Quill wonders if he should say anything, but Miss Pris has been really nice to him. Instead of answering, though, he takes a deep breath and slides under the water; Peter kicks his feet and pops back up, only to be surprised by the gray foam still covering his face and body. "It didn't come off!"

"S-silly boy!" Pris grabs Peter's cheeks and rubs vigorous circles, "You have to s-scrub it first! S-see?" The boy giggles again. "You know, you don't have to tell me anything, if you don't want to."

"No, I guess it's okay," he absently rubs at the foam on his arm, "Cap'n Yondu saved me. He said his men caught me, to cook for dinner, but that he wouldn' let 'em. I don't really know if that's true, but I'm pretty sure they don't like me, though." Peter pulls at his right ear, where his translator implant buzzes when it shouldn't. "None of 'em'll talk to me, except the Captain, even though I know what they're sayin' now. One of 'em called me 'cargo' and stuck me up on a shelf. But I'm good at climbing, so I got down."

Miss Pris hums and scrubs the boy's back, "S-sounds-s like quite an adventure… Kidnapped by hungry pirates… S-saved by the dangerous, but bubble bath-loving Captain…"

"Mmm," Peter grins, "I suppose, but…" Quill splashes in the murky water, "It's been a while, I think, a few months, maybe. It's kinda hard to tell time. I never lived on a spaceship before… But I don't know what Cap'n Yondu's gonna do with me. I don't think he decided yet an'… I don't wanna get eaten."

"I don't think Captain Udonta would let that happen."

"I don't know," Quill replies with the discerning skepticism of an eight-year-old.

Pris pours a handful of water over the boy's head, "Well, what if he wanted to keep you?"

"That could be pretty cool, I guess… I never had a dad before…"


	4. Chapter 4

"Miss Pris?" Yondu's voice floats over an intercom.

"Yes-s, Captain Udonta?" the receptionist calls back.

"Is my boy out 'ere?" he asks, and the boy in question emerges from a pile of cushions on the sofa.

"Yes-s Captain Udonta," Pris beckons the child from his pillow nest, "I'll s-send him right in."

Yondu lazes with the Madam in her oversized bed when Peter finally pokes his head through the door. He can see that the boy's pulling at his ear again, that damn translator just doesn't seem to be taking. Something does look different about the kid, but in the low light, the Ravager can't quite tell what.

"Captain?" Quill calls out in a small voice.

"Don' linger, boy," the pirate Captain says as he sits up and waves the child to him, "Come over here."

Peter gathers up the satin-like material of the robe Pris lent him and carefully picks his way to the bedside. As he approaches, Yondu's face goes through myriad emotions; indifferent, pleased, curious, and finally, very confused.

"Wha…? How come you all shiny, boy?" Udonta asks, he turns the boy's face this way and that, and watches the light sparkle in cascades over Peter's skin. "Sol'ya, take a look at this."

The Madam stirs from where she reclines behind the Captain. Her serpentine body shifts under the blankets, lifting her up, she chuckles when she sees the boy. "Aw, how s-sweet," she yawns and settles herself again, curling against Yondu's side.

"How this happen, Peter? It's all over you!"

"Miss Pris let me take a bath," Quill says shyly, he fidgets with the over-long sleeves of his robe, "She gave me this bubbly stuff… an' it made me all shiny."

"Yeah, hah, i' sure did," Yondu's shoulders shake with laughter, "An' perfumed you up like heershkra montk raman!"

Peter's eyes go wide as Yondu continues to speak, he chews his lip and tugs at his right ear, which feels like it's full of electric gnats. The boy can't understand a thing being said to him. "Um, Captain…" he says nervously, "I… can't… U-um…"

(Imagine, Yondu and Sol'ya's dialogue in alien languages with subtitles.)

"Damn."

"Hmm?" the Madam hums quizzically.

"Hrm, fo' some reason, this dang implant keep fritzin' out," Udonta mutters as he peers into the Terran's ear canal. "Okay, I think I see what it is… Come here, Quill."

Faster than the kid can blink, Yondu spins him around and lifts him onto his lap. The boy trembles anxiously as the Ravager Captain pulls him back against his chest and cradles his head against a strong, blue shoulder. Udonta murmurs soothingly to Peter while he presses at the bone behind the child's ear.

"You're s-so good with your s-son, Yondu," Sol'ya stretches languidly and traces her long fingers down the Captain's back as she watches them.

The Centaurian huffs, "Ain' my son…"

The Madam smiles gently, she's run this brothel for many, many years, and she knows men and what they long for, "He could be."

(End imaginary subtitles)

"Ow!" Peter flinches.

Yondu releases the boy, "Iz'at better?"

The boy brightens immediately, "Yeah! Way better!" Peter flips himself about and throws his skinny arms around Yondu's neck. "Thank you, Captain," he says into the man's shoulder.

Udonta glances sideways at Sol'ya and the Madam smiles knowingly in return. She flicks the Ravager's elbow and winks. Yondu lets out a breath and wraps his arms around the young Terran.

"Yo'r alrigh' now, ain'tchu?" the Captain says as he rubs the child's back; Quill hums and nods and hugs the pirate tighter. "M'okay," Yondu sighs and pulls the boy off him. He cups the kid's cheek and looks intently into those big, blue eyes.

Peter blinks but never looks away. They smile softly at one another, then Peter's stomach gurgles loudly. The young Terran giggles.

"You ain' ea'chet?"

Quill shakes his head.

Udonta scowls, "Don' be a fool, boy! Go ask Miss Pris ta feed you some!" The Centaurian gently pushes the kid away, and Peter squirms over the side of the bed, landing heavily on the floor. "G'won."

Peter jumps to his feet and hikes up his shiny robe. "Yessir," he says and runs from the room.

Yondu chuckles and shakes his head. He shivers as Sol'ya's great coils slide against him. The Captain lets out a pleasantly surprised breath as the Madam slithers up his body.

"If not as your s-son, Yondu, why keep him?" she asks as she presses tantalizing kisses to the pirate's jaw.

He chuckles again and grabs the woman. "'At's a good question," Yondu growls, "One we c'n discuss later…"


	5. Chapter 5

"Hey pipsqueak."

Peter jumps, he inhales sharply and catches a piece of cracker in the back of his throat. He gags and sputters and starts to turn red. Kraglin thumps the kid on the back, knocking the offending crumb free and Quill tips over coughing. Before Peter can regain control, he inches anxiously away from the lanky First Mate.

"Tch!" Obfonteri scoffs, "Don't worry kid, Xandarians don't eat Terrans."

"!" Peter squeaks and coughs again. "You don't?" he finally manages to gasp.

Kraglin chuckles and drops onto the wide couch next to Quill. "No. We do eat them biscuits, though." He takes a swig from the long-necked bottle he carries.

"Oh," the boy twitches and rubs at his right ear. "Here, do you want one?" Peter lifts his plate of crackers in offering. "Miss Pris-s-z," he twitches again but goes like nothing's happened, "gave 'em to me…"

The Ravager narrows his eyes, Yondu told him the boy's translator implant was acting up, but that wasn't just a bad patch in the programming. "Thanks… I see Pris got you with that sparkly shit, didn' she, kid?"

"Oh, yeah, she did. …Um, my name's Peter."

"I know that," Obfonteri smirks and munches on the little snack cracker, "You know my name?"

Peter fidgets, "You're Kraglin. You're the First Mate."

"Tha's right," the pirate watches the child intently, "Secon'-in-command o' the whole faction."

"That's cool," the boy's words trail off, he works his jaw like he's trying to say more, but his brain is no longer connecting to his mouth. A small rivulet of blood runs from his right ear.

"Peter… Peter? Hey Pris, grab me that slip-kit ya got over there."


	6. Chapter 6

"What is goin' on out here, Kraglin?"

The First Mate doesn't glance up, he's focused on the small tools in his hands and the little human ear they go into, "I'm tryin' ta turn off 'is implant…"

Yondu scowls, "Why? What happen'd?" he asks as he stalks closer.

"Mod's got 'im hemorrhaging somewhere… Hang on, Cap'n, just abou'… Got it."

The instant the translator implant is deactivated, Quill shrieks, a horrible, high-pitched sound, startling everyone. Kraglin quickly twists one of the tools in Peter's ear.

The child goes silent, his eyes bulge wide and lock on to Udonta's worried gaze. Peter reaches for the blue man, his small hands desperately grabbing at the air for his only protector. The boy gurgles as a seizure takes hold of him and he thrashes in Kraglin's lap.

"Give 'im here!"


	7. Chapter 7

The mod specialist waves to the examination table, "Alright, Sir, you can lay the child down right here."

Yondu snarls at the woman, showing his jagged teeth.

"Or you can hold him," she says quickly, raising her hands in surrender, "That's fine, too, for now." She casts about for a moment and grabs a chair, "Here, have a seat. Let's get started."

The Ravager Captain narrows his eyes but takes the offered chair.

"Okay," the Kree doctor mutters, she presses a mask over Peter's nose and mouth, and sticks a scanning device to his neck. Her display screen flashes red, "Well, there's yer problem… This mod was never going to integrate with a mammal. Tch! …Wonder why it worked at all…?"

"So, fix it!" Yondu growls.

The doctor reaches for Peter, but Udonta grabs her wrist.

"You ain' takin' 'im from me," he sneers.

The Kree glances to the Madam, who leans quietly against the door. "I need to put the boy on the table. You can't hold him for this part. You can't even be in here."

"Yondu, let the doctor do her job. We'll be right outs-side the door," Sol'ya says gently, she slithers closer and rests a hand on the Captain's shoulder, "… I will drag you out of here, if I have to."

The Ravager growls and pushes to his feet. "Fine," he grumbles as he tenderly lays Peter's unconscious body on the exam table. Yondu frowns, and brushes his fingers through the child's hair, and lets the Madam pull him away.


	8. Chapter 8

"I've never s-seen you like this-s, Yondu," Sol-ya says as she watches her best client and friend pace back and forth, "Is-s it guilt?"

Damned if the woman doesn't say exactly what she thinks. Udonta grimaces and shakes his head, his hand trembles as he rubs at the scars surrounding the mohawk-like implant in his skull.

"Probably is," he mutters and folds his arms tightly across his chest. "That asshole, Ego, lied to me… All them kids 're dead," he meets the Madam's reptilian gaze, "I couldn' let that happen again."

"S-so what now? Now that Peter is yours-s?"

Yondu snorts, "He ain't mine!"

Sol'ya rolls her eyes and wraps a great coil around the Captain, pulling him back to her, "He could be! You clearly want to keep him."

The Centaurian throws his hands in the air, "I can't keep a child on the Eclector! Are you crazy?! 'At's a ship full of Ravagers! I'm their Captain! What the hell would I do with the boy anyway!?"

"Raise him as your s-son," the Madam shrugs as though it's a simple thing and drapes her arms around Yondu's shoulders.

He laughs and slides a hand around Sol'ya's humanoid waist, "Easy as that, hunh?"

"Why not? You've already had him two months-s and look at you. Fretting away outs-side the doctor's-s like a doting daddy," she grins at him teasingly before fixing him with a serious look, "You were exiled for this-s, Yondu, why s-shouldn't you get a family out of it?"

"Just 'cuz you run my mos' fav'rite whorehouse in the galaxy, don' mean I won' burn it to the ground with you in it," Yondu gives the woman a toothy, dead-eyed smile.

Sol'ya hardly blinks, "Noted."

Udonta sighs, his shoulders sag, and he rests his forehead against his companion's. "Dammit, woman," the pirate Captain murmurs, "You're not wrong."

The door slides open suddenly and the doctor beckons them in.

"Success," the Kree woman says, "He'll sleep for at least an hour. I recommend feeding him and putting him back to bed. There'll be some tenderness, but he's good to go.

"Y'know, Terrans're rare, 'specially a juvenile, and there's something different about this one," the doctor leans close, "Where'd you find him?"

Yondu gives the surgeon a veiled look, "What's yer price?"

"Two! Two thousand units."

The Ravager Captain narrows his red eyes.

"I meant fifteen hundred…"

Udonta's lip twitches in a snarl.

"Yondu, this-s is my doctor!" the Madam says sternly and swats his arm, "Pay the woman. And you, no questions, unders-stand?"

The Kree doctor bobs her head, appropriately rebuked, "Of course, Madam. …Sorry about that."


	9. Chapter 9

Kraglin groans contentedly and stretches his long body across the whole length of the overstuffed couch in the foyer of the Serpent's Garden. He's just beginning to wonder about the Captain when Yondu pushes through the swinging doors into the cozy anteroom.

"Kraglin," Udonta says to the room as he holds the door open for Sol'ya, who carries the sleeping child, "I'm keepin' the Terran."

"M'okay," the Xandarian hums in agreement, "Wait, what?!" He scrabbles upright and looks at his Captain, "Keepin'? You mean on the Eclector?"

"Shh!" the Madam shushes the pirate and narrows her eyes at him as she glides across the foyer.

Yondu gapes at his second, "'At's my ship, ain't it?" he asks in an exaggerated whisper.

"W'll, yeah," Kraglin stammers quietly, "but we c'n still make delivery. Better late than…"

"Yondu," Sol'ya interrupts as she pauses at the door to her rooms, "tell him. Tell him why."

The look the Captain gives her as he stalks across the floor is a statement all its own, but he waits to be within grumbling-murmur distance, "What are you doin'? Put the boy down, an' let me talk to my man, Sol'ya."

Obfonteri smirks as he watches the colorful pair argue in hushed voices. This certainly isn't the first time he's witnessed the brothel keeper and his Captain exchange heated, but quiet, words; he wonders, sometimes, if they shouldn't be married.

"You know, you c'n tell me anythin', Cap'n," Kraglin says. Maybe Yondu will be more forthcoming if he appears more supportive.

"Don'…"

Sol'ya leans around the annoyed Centaurian. "Ego broke the contract, he killed all thos-se children," she says lowly, meeting Kraglin's gaze, while Udonta growls at the woman. "Peter is-s not for delivery."

"Oh shit!" the expletive escapes the Xandarian before he even realizes it, and he's shushed again. Kraglin looks stricken as he glances to his superior, he whispers loudly, "Those were 'is own kids… How long you know this, Cap'n?"

Yondu sneers at the Madam, who adjusts her hold on the sleeping child, now his child, just to remind him of what's being discussed. He huffs.

"Found out 'bout'a week after we jumped from Terran space," the pirate Captain sighs, "That jackass tol' me our deal was still good 'cause them kids didn' suffer. He said they didn' feel a thing." He meets his First Mate's earnest gaze, "Tha's why I took the Madam's job when she called. I needed time ta think, an' I have… I'm keepin' 'im."

"Okay…" Kraglin nods, but he still sounds doubtful, "But're you sure abou' this, Cap'n? I mean, what would you keep 'im for?"

Udonta's expression is unreadable, he knows in that moment that his crew, his clan, will never understand his desire for a son, so he lies.

"I'll keep 'im fer thievin'," the Captain murmurs, and, well, it's not quite a lie. Any child of Yondu Udonta's will be a great thief. "Scrawny kid like 'at c'n git inta places we can't."

Sol'ya hisses, incensed by the Ravager's spurious words, and snaps Yondu right in the tender meat of the back of his thigh with the sharp tip of her rose-colored tail.

The Centaurian's nostrils flare, his eyes flash, and he growls loudly as he faces the snake-woman. Sol'ya is unbothered by his anger, though, and shushes him sharply before he can speak.

Yondu's eyes flick to the unconscious Quill and back. "You lookin' for a fight, ain'tchu?"

"Bring it, blue man!" the Madam mutters her reply. She is bullshit that Yondu won't admit to wanting a son to his own First Mate, and she'll make damn sure he knows it.

"Rrrr!" Yondu forces his words through his teeth, "Jus' put the kid down for me, woman! …Please!"

Sol'ya does a better than fair approximation of the pirate Captain's signature sneer, "Fine," she spits, "but this-s is-sn't over!" And she disappears into the darkness of her chambers.

Udonta groans and massages his temples, "I'm gon' kill her," he mumbles under his breath, "Tha's wh't I'm gonna do… I'll kill her, it'll be, it'll be so easy… Jus' like that, dead…"

"Sumpin' else happen, th't I should know about?" Kraglin asks carefully.

"The Madam's not a fan of my motivations," Yondu grumbles. He sighs and faces his second-in-command, then he hisses and rubs at the back of his leg, "Damn, she popped me good."

The Xandarian swallows a chuckle, he won't say it, but it looked to him like the hit was deserved. "So, you wanna raise that kid up ta be a Ravager?" Kraglin sucks on his teeth, "I don' know abou' this, Yondu."

It's a highly uncommon thing for Kraglin to call his Captain by name, but this situation merits the distinction.

Yondu folds his arms, "He's got no momma ta go back to, 'sides that, he's almos' been off-world too long ta go back anyhow."

"Mmm," Obfonteri hums in agreement, "Terra is a pretty primitive, li'l, backwoods planet, i'nit? They'd lock 'im up right quick jus' ta get his mods."

"Yup," the Ravager Captain stretches his neck, he groans happily at the pops he produces. "Peter's a smart, li'l bugger. He seems to've taken to me, an' he minds me well."

Kraglin laughs, surprising the blue pirate. "'At's 'cause you told him w're gonna cook 'im an' eat 'im! An' he believed you!"

Yondu chuckles, too, he didn't think the kid would take him so seriously, but, "Yeah, 'e did believe it, too!" Udonta shrugs, "He's a baby! … An' 'e's from a… under-developed world, shall we say?"

"Ass-backwards, ya mean," the First Mate snickers.

"Ha! True, but," Yondu stretches the word enticingly, "Peter's half Spartoi, too, an' every scan of 'im shows a somethin' th't systems can't iden'ify, which didn' happen with any o' them other kids."

Kraglin's brow twitches, he's intrigued by that, "Really?"

The Captain nods once and rubs his hands together, "Who c'n say what that hybrid'll grow into, but I aim ta see 'im grow."

"Hmh, Celestial Terran," Kraglin frowns thoughtfully, "…Ravager. Sure. Why not?" The Xandarian shrugs, resigned to his Captain's decision, there's no changing his mind, anyway. "Wha'd'you wont ta tell the clan?"

"They c'n bite me."

"Mm! Nope, no-no, no, Cap'n," Obfonteri makes a face and shakes his head, "No. I don' recommen' that. Las' time you said somethin' like 'at, Narblik w's tryin' ta bite yer fingers off fer days."

Yondu frowns toothily, he looks at his hand and grumbles, "Yeah… My nail still ain't growin' in right… We tell 'em what I tol' you, less the part abou' them kids bein' murdered by their own father…"

"Agreed," Kraglin nods his head, a serious expression on his long face, "No sense gettin' tha crew all riled when we ain' got the resources ta take revenge on a planet… An' the kid?"

The Centaurian shakes his head.

"So, we jus' fished 'im offa Terra ta cook up fer dinner?"

Udonta scratches his whiskery chin and nods, "It's prob'bly best if he thinks that. Unless you want ta tell 'im?"

The First Mate's expression changes quickly from skepticism to surety. "Nah," Kraglin waves the suggestion away, "Yer prol'ly right, 'e don' need ta know tha pa'ticulars." He nods with his chin to the Madam's darkened doorway, "You migh' wont ta git back to 'im, though, 'fore the Madam turns 'im ag'inst you."

"What?" Yondu startles and looks over his shoulder, "Oh, hunh, yeah," he smirks, "Yer right abou' that… I should deal wi' that, shouldn' I?"


End file.
